Category: Vietnamese

Categories
Vietnamese

Ba Mien (3 Miền) – Bankstown NSW Restaurant Review

I really like myself some Vietnamese food, and Ba Mien came highly recommended by the online Vietnamese-Australian community for its selection of specialties from across the three geographical and culinary regions of Vietnam.

This banh cuon with fermented pork and beef ($17) was great. I don’t know if it’s me that’s changed since the first time I had banh cuon in Marrickville back in 2021, or the quality is actually better, but I really enjoyed it. The rice noodles were soft and silky, with good moistness and not a hint of the dryness that I experienced in past lives.

The banh cuon filling, though confined to only small pockets, was flavourful and umami. The spring roll was packed densely with meat and also very good, as was the nem nuong. Total recommendation on this one.

The banh xeo with pork, prawn, squid and scallop ($20) was a bit of a disappointment. It started off strong, freshly deep fried, warm and crispy, but as I ate towards the centre and delved through the greenery I became less sweet about it.

I think my biggest problem with the banh xeo was the unexpected protein. The four types of protein listed on the menu already provided more than enough taste and textural variety, and I did not need insect protein added to the mix as well. One of the reasons I like to eat at restaurants is that it means that I don’t have to wash and prepare my ingredients, but the normally unspoken hope in this is that even though I don’t have to, someone else will do it for me. I’m sad to say that my favourite banh xeo remains to be from banh xeo bar in Rosebery, which, given its vaguely fusion roots, I don’t know if that makes me a bad Asian.

Comments
The banh cuon was really good, but I think the washing of the vegetables would go a long way. Quite affordable.

Ba Mien (3 Miền)
324 Chapel Rd, Bankstown NSW 2200
0413 772 343

Categories
Bakery Vietnamese

Nguyen Hot Bread – Canley Vale NSW Restaurant Review

My junior/friend/colleague brought me these banh mi for lunch at work, not knowing that I am lowkey a banh mi influencer in the microsphere of Western Sydney. My thoughts, however brief, should be taken in the context of a approximately 5 hour dwell time within the enhanced post-operative care unit’s breakroom refrigerator.

Within limits of dwell-time, these were still only OK. The meat in the crackling pork roll ($7.50) was plentiful, especially for the price, but neither it nor the cold cut pork roll ($7) had adequate vegetable to carry moisture through the course of the meal. These rolls also lacked the deliciously unhealthy concotion of butter/Vietnamese mayo, instead featuring a rather more pedestrian and Western margarine-like spread instead.

I’m told there are a number of different hot bread stores in the area. Perhaps another, next time?

Nguyen Hot Bread
33 Canley Vale Rd, Canley Vale NSW 2166

Categories
Vietnamese

Viet House Rolls – Westmead NSW Restaurant Review

There are a few places in Westmead to get a banh mi these days, and this recently opened place at the bottom of the UWS building is my least favourite one.

I had the crispy pork roll ($12.50 with a can of drink) on my one and only visit to Viet House Rolls, and it was not worth it. First, credit where credit is due: the bread was nice and crusty on the outside, whilst remaining soft on the inside, allowing me to avoid oral mucosal injury. Outside of this, injurious factors included a truly depressing few strands of carrot, pork crackling that came out of a plastic take-away container (if I wanted this I would’ve gone to the grocery store?), and just like. Normal mayo, without a hint of Vietnameseness.

What added insult to injury is that they won’t sell you this roll without a can of soft drink, making it the most expensive roll in the area, and not even good.

There’s a reason that palliative care, the trauma surgeons, my former consultant, and basically any other banh mi aficionado in and around the Westmead area goes to Thuy Hot Bread across from the train station, an absolute local institution that’s been around since at least when I was primary school.

(Full disclosure, I was once salty that I tried to get banh mi from here with a friend after work, within their posted opening hours online, only to find them closed. I am no longer salty about this, extrapolating what I know about the quality and price from this roll, and considering what we ate instead that night.)

Viet House Rolls
T11/160 Hawkesbury Rd, Westmead NSW 2145

Categories
Vietnamese

Eat Fuh – Marrickville NSW Restaurant Review

We found, with significant and surprising difficulty, a pho establishment in Marrickville that serves pho dac biet with all the neccessary trimmings of tripe and tendon.

My friend PMR and I each had the combination beef fuh ($21), which unlike many nearby competitors added tripe and a healthy serving of tendon to each bowl, along with rare beef, brisket, and beef balls. In tribute to the behaviour recently witnessed by my partner’s father, I ordered mine with slightly cooked sprouts so as to not dilute the thermal mass of the hot bowl.

The price of this bowl was generally higher than others in the earea, though it was generous in its size and quantity of beefy proteins. The herbs, lemon, and bean sprouts were served on top of the noodles rather than in a separate side dish, taking away a degree of autonomy from the diner, though they did not go so far as to squeeze the lemon. Though my dining friend paid a particular compliment to the flavour of the soup, I had difficulty appreciating the same depth that he could.

Surely Eat Fuh’s neighbours can add some more fringe bits to their pho?

Eat Fuh Marrickville
274 Illawarra Rd, Marrickville NSW 2204

Categories
Vietnamese

Tam Tam – Parramatta NSW Restaurant Review

The seafood spring rolls ($12) were good, with a dense and umami filling covered in a light and oily external shell. Just as they should be.

The special beef noodle soup/pho ($18) had a bit of everything wtihin the usual suspects, and was pretty good. I didn’t love the beef balls, but it’s rare to find a place that does every component well.

I have absolutely no problems with the food here. I think it’s a good pho for Parramatta, especially since my previous favourite Lee Chef has been closed for years now with no signs of anything good popping up in its place.

I have no problems with the service either – we rocked up quite late after work, essentially 15 minutes before their listed closing time, and they served us with speed and friendliness.

What I did think was unfortunate was the restaurant’s location and parking situation. My first visit to Tam Tam was actually the second time I tried to go. Its location in the centre of Parramatta means that there is no free street parking nearby, meaning that any meal here necessitates a snake-like crawl through the nearby Eat St parking lot and a minimum extra $3 charge. And I know that a lack of free parking disincentivises private car usage and incentivises public transport, resulting in what is probably a net environmental and economical good for society. It’s just annoying when you work in the next suburb and have to pay $3 to park to eat a $18 bowl of pho.

Tam Tam
41 Phillip St, Parramatta NSW 2150
0466 222 699